Artist Statement / Bio

I use my artwork to explore ornamental detail in objects traditionally associated with the decorative arts. My process is guided by an interest in the perception of necessity, and I explore what is necessary to create ornamental and decorative detail while preserving function.

Seams and joints become my decorative features and are used with a goal of utilizing detail economically. I primarily use the Midwestern farm landscape as a reference point because I am attracted to the land’s seemingly simple and productive nature. Although farmland appears simple, picturesque, and natural, it possesses many subtle and ignorable, unnatural features like terraces, waterways, and drainage systems. These human created features are necessary for the land to be productive on a level that makes land use justified.

I use agriculture and decorative arts to explore consumer culture and perceived necessity in a simplified manner. Landscape has become my inspiration for exploring necessity through unnecessary objects.

After receiving my BFA from Iowa State in 2005, I have studied and worked across the US in the Rocky Mountains, Southeast, and Pacific Northwest. I am inspired and motivated by material, simplicity, and process. Currently, I am making work in rural Iowa and digesting influences from the Midwestern landscape as well as the implements, practices, and people that define it’s subtly beautiful landscape.